Glossary
TOGAF and ArchiMate terminology, plus Northwise-specific terms — Plumbline, Decision Matrix, Reader, Contributor, Architect, and more.
Terms are listed alphabetically. TOGAF and ArchiMate terms include their source framework in parentheses.
A
ADR (Architecture Decision Record) A structured record of a significant architecture decision: context, decision made, alternatives considered, consequences, and status. Northwise's ADR module corresponds to TOGAF's Architecture Requirements Specification deliverable.
AMEFF (ArchiMate Model Exchange File Format) The XML-based open standard for exchanging ArchiMate models between tools. Northwise supports AMEFF import. Tools that export AMEFF include Archi, BiZZdesign HoriZZon, and Alfabet.
Application Component (ArchiMate) An Application layer element representing a modular, deployable, and replaceable part of a software system encapsulating its behaviour and data. Corresponds to a microservice, application, or major subsystem.
Architect A Northwise system role. Architects create and maintain canonical content: elements, relationships, principles, deliverables, decisions, requirements. See Understanding roles.
Architecture Building Blocks (ABBs) (TOGAF) Technology-agnostic representations of capability. Defined in Phase B–D of the ADM and instantiated as Solution Building Blocks in the Technology Architecture.
Architecture Decision A Northwise record of a material technical or architectural choice. Linked to requirements, principles, and landscape elements.
Architecture Roadmap (TOGAF) A time-sequenced set of work packages to transition from the Baseline to the Target Architecture.
Architecture Vision (TOGAF) A TOGAF Phase A deliverable summarising the scope, constraints, and high-level target state of an architecture engagement. One of the 15 deliverable types in Northwise.
B
Baseline Architecture (TOGAF) The as-is state of the enterprise — what exists today. Contrasted with the Target Architecture.
Business Actor (ArchiMate) A Business layer element representing an organisational entity (person, group, or organisation) that is capable of performing behaviour. Used in Northwise Landscape.
C
Capability (TOGAF) The ability that an organisation, person, or system possesses. Northwise links capabilities to business processes, application components, and principles.
Contributor A Northwise system role. Contributors participate in governance — raise findings, comment in reviews, respond to assessments — without authoring canonical content. Available on Team and above. See Understanding roles.
D
Decision Matrix A Northwise feature that routes architecture review requests through the right people and process, based on a configurable scoring matrix. Determines whether a change needs no review, a basic async review, or a full board decision.
Deliverable (TOGAF) A work product contractually specified and formally reviewed, agreed, and signed off. Northwise supports all 15 TOGAF deliverable types with versioned content.
Drift The gap between what is documented in the architecture and what is actually running in production. Northwise's Git Tech Discovery module detects technology drift by scanning dependency manifests.
E
Element In Northwise, an ArchiMate element stored in the Landscape module. Elements have a type (from the ArchiMate 3.x metamodel), a name, a description, and relationships to other elements.
F
Finding A Northwise record of a standards violation, risk, or improvement opportunity. Findings have a subject (an element or application), a status lifecycle (Open → In Progress → Resolved), an owner, and can be linked to initiatives.
G
Governance In the Northwise context, governance is the combination of the Reviews module and Plumbline — structured processes for ensuring that delivery decisions stay aligned with architecture standards.
I
Initiative A Northwise record of work in progress. Initiatives scope a set of changes and provide a context for linking requirements, findings, and decisions.
L
Landscape The Northwise module that stores your ArchiMate model: elements, relationships, and viewpoints.
P
Plumbline The Northwise governance assessment module. Plumbline runs structured assessments against your principles and scores each section for readiness. Plumbline Author uses AI (via your Anthropic key) to suggest principle content.
Principle (TOGAF-aligned) A fundamental norm or rule that must be adhered to in an organisation. In Northwise, principles have a title, rationale, implications, a status (Draft → Active → Deprecated), and a source.
R
Reader A Northwise system role. Readers have read-only access to everything in the tenant. Reader access is always free and unlimited.
Relationship (ArchiMate) A directed or undirected connection between two ArchiMate elements. Northwise stores all ArchiMate 3.x relationship types: Composition, Aggregation, Assignment, Realisation, Serving, Access, Influence, Triggering, Flow, Specialisation, Association.
Review A Northwise governance process for evaluating and approving architecture changes. Review types range from no-review to basic (async) to full board decision, based on the Decision Matrix outcome.
S
Solution Building Blocks (SBBs) (TOGAF) Technology-specific implementations of Architecture Building Blocks. Defined in Phase E/F and tracked in the Architecture Roadmap.
System role A Northwise access role applied per tenant. One of: Super-admin, Architect, Contributor, Reader. See Understanding roles.
T
Technology Catalogue The Northwise module tracking every technology in use across the estate, with lifecycle stages: Trial, Adopt, Hold, Ban. Connected to Landscape elements for drift detection.
Tenant A Northwise workspace. All data is tenant-scoped and isolated. Created when you first sign up.
TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Framework) An enterprise architecture methodology and framework that provides guidance for planning, designing, and governing IT architectures. Northwise uses TOGAF as a structural framework — deliverable types, principle structure, ADM phase alignment.
V
Viewpoint (ArchiMate) A perspective on the architecture model, selecting and arranging elements relevant to a particular stakeholder concern. Examples: Application Cooperation viewpoint, Organisation viewpoint, Capability viewpoint.
W
Work Package (TOGAF) A set of actions identified to achieve one or more objectives for the business. Work packages are used in the Architecture Roadmap and are tracked as Initiatives in Northwise.